prayers for blowouts

The fallout from Capitol Hill

If you're new here, and you're into sports and/or the Christian faith, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I watched a bit of the drama online yesterday, but honestly, I could only take about 45 minutes of it.

I did follow along on a few of the blogs while it was happening, and I caught the highlights later in the day like many of you did.

Some random thoughts from it all…

+ The congressmen who were attacking McNamee seemed way out of line to me. Congressman Burton seemed intent on shaming McNamee, not at getting at the truth. The way he called Clemens a “baseball titan” almost made me gag. Same can be said for Congressman Shays, who was basically namecalling and browbeating McNamee. I have no interest in defending McNamee, but it seemed clear that those bozos had an agenda, and that it was all about making McNamee look bad. Apparently Henry Waxman agreed with me, going so far as to apologize to McNamee at the conclusion of the hearings for it.

+  For the most part, Clemens was stumbling over his answers like a blindfolded parent walking through a messy toy room. It was hard to watch.  I felt that McNamee was much more believable than Clemens, and all of the media outlets I have listened to in the past 12 hours have confirmed that I’m not alone. This morning on Mike and Mike, Bob Costas said that he already believed McNamee more than Clemens, and that for him yesterday’s events “moved the needle” away from Clemens even more. (no pun intended on the use of the word ‘needle’.)

+ Pettitte’s testimony was the star yesterday, and as was reported earlier, it was not good for Roger. Pettitte will be taking some hits over the next few days and weeks as well, however, as he is now admitting that he lied to the Mitchell Report about the extent of his HGH use. He now says he took some again in 2004, HGH that was given to him by his dad. Media folk are already using this to play the “hypocrite card” because of his faith, and there’s really nothing he can do except take his lumps, ask for forgiveness, and try to learn from this.

+ Seems to me that a lot of people told half-truths to the Mitchell Report. Both Pettitte and McNamee have now admitted under oath that they did not tell all of the truth because they were trying to protect people. McNamee hid the physical evidence he had so as not to embarrass Clemens, and Pettitte protected his dad by not mentioning the 2004 incident. Both men, however, were not comfortable lying to Congress and risking perjury, so they told all. (or did they?)

+ I liked a quote I heard this morning that was attributed to McNamee’s lawyers. When he asked them how he had done, they told him he did good because “he gave answers, not speeches”.

+ I bet the nanny thing is going to hurt Clemens as more and more info comes out. McNamee remembered the color of her bathing suit at the party (creepy much?)…if he was so sure about that, could he really be mistaken about Clemens being there? He even recalled conversations they had about the party. Why would he lie about trivial details like that? I just don’t see it.

(last one, i promise)

+ Clemens has prided himself on his work ethic and discipline in maintaining his shape and fitness. Steroids or not, it is clear that he has put in a lot of work, and it is very commendable. But if I could say one thing to him right now, it would be this: “Keeping us with these lies for the rest of your life is going to be harder than any workout program you have ever done. The thing about the truth is, it does not require much effort to maintain. That’s actually the great thing about the truth; it does the work for you. But these lies, they will take work, and they will drain you emotionally, physically, and spiritually every day of your life. Always remember, it is never too late to let them go and embrace the truth.”

Oh one more thing, I’ve never been more ready for baseball to start.

Pitchers and catchers report today! Woot!

Tags: Andy Pettitte, HGH, Roger Clemens, Steroids